Davidson's Symphony Orchestra performs at a concert. Courtesy of @davidsoncollegemusic on Instagram.
There’s a running joke among Davidson’s ensemble musicians: the fall Concert on the Green never actually happens.
Scheduled once in the fall and again in the spring, the show is designed to bring music outside of rehearsal halls and onto the town green for Davidson students and locals. The concert is meant to be casual and fun, in comparison to the typical buttoned-up ensemble performances in Davidson’s Duke Performance Hall. But in recent years, it seems more often than not the fall concert is called off due to the weather.
Clarinet player Gabe Garcia ’26 remarked on the coincidence. “I don’t remember the last time I played at the fall Concert on the Green,” he said.
Unfortunately, this year was no exception. Last weekend’s performance was cancelled, but members of Davidson College Symphony Orchestra (DCSO) and the Jazz Ensemble are still looking forward to a packed season of music.
Big changes are happening inside both groups. For DCSO, many juniors have left for study abroad, and the arrival of several first-years has reshaped sections. “The flute section is huge now,” flutist Astrid Marit ‘28 said.
This shifting membership has built excitement and created opportunities for leadership. “My section is looking to me for guidance, and to see how [the] orchestra works, so my goal is just to make sure that I can tell them ‘this is for fun!’ and just offer some reassurance when things are stressful,” Garcia said.
Jazz Ensemble is also navigating turnover. After seven seniors graduated and three juniors left to study abroad, the group has shifted into a “little big band” format. In the smaller group, each instrument carries more weight compared to its full-size counterpart.
The shift has created a leaner sound, with more room for individual voices. The band is missing a trombone player, leaving a tenor sax to cover the part. “Each person is definitely more exposed,” alto saxophonist Nolan Elder ’27 said.
Both groups are working on a wide variety of repertoire this semester. The Symphony is rehearsing pieces ranging from Rimsky-Korakov’s technically challenging “Scheherazade” to the contemporary “Restless Oceans, composed by Anne Clyde.
Meanwhile, the Jazz Ensemble is leaning into its playful side. The group is preparing Duke Ellington’s “Limbo Jazz,” complete with an actual limbo stick, and an arrangement of the Sesame Street theme song.
The symphony performed on Tuesday night in Duke Performance Hall with a program built around the theme “what’s worth fighting for,” highlighting love, freedom, and survival through works ranging from Sibelius’s “Finlandia” to the Italian resistance song “Bella Ciao.”
Both DCSO and Jazz Ensemble have programs planned for Wildcat weekend. During the last week of winter break, the groups will embark on their annual destination city tour, visiting churches, high schools, and other colleges’ performance halls.
Davidson is far from a conservatory–approximately 95% of both ensembles are composed of non-music majors–but students say that is what makes them special. “No one’s really here to do just music but it’s a place where all of us have this strong passion for music. Everyone kind of shares that, which is really nice,” Marit said.